While most people went directly to try practicing with the element they predicted they'd have higher affinity with, an array of tests was available for those with less confidence in predicting their own affinity.
To test for control of fire, a copper rod was made available, which when held by an observer, could be directly felt for temperature changes. It seems like fire is a bit of a misnomer as the magic deals with the transfer of heat in general, so some people can make it heat up, some can make it cool down, and some people can make one end of the rod cool and the other end heat up. The degree to which this effect is felt could be used as a general gauge of how good someone's control of it is.
To test for control of earth, a golden spoon was available, which could be directly bent by a mage. It seems that the effectiveness of earth magic increases with the density of the material in question, so gold as one of the densest materials available was the easiest to affect. The angle at which it could be bent could be used as a gauge of control.
Water was the simplest to test for, as those who could manipulate it well could cause a vortex to form in a cup of water, where the depth of the vortex gauges relative control.
Air was deceptively difficult to measure as the yard, as an outdoor location, also had wind. The test used was a balloon, where shrinking the balloon's size and then restoring it again was a measure of relative control.
Life was done through the rather masochistic method of slashing oneself with a twin razor, letting the blood drip, focusing on one of the wounds and timing the difference in time it took for the bleeding of each wound to stop.
Space was done through placing an object exactly a metre away, focusing on it for a few minutes, and then measuring again to see if the distance had changed. The largest difference measured among students was in the scale of two centimetres.
There was no method available to measure control of time, as the instruments one would have used to measure it would be equally affected by the magic itself, but none of the students reported being able to change the result of anything that already happened. It's anyone's guess as to whether this batch has no time manipulators, or those with that ability have decided to hide it.
Two results in particular were irregular. One was that of Alicia Reinhart, who showed the abilities to cool items, manipulate water, manipulate the volume of the balloon and bend the spoon, all to noticeable degrees.
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The other was mine, where Gwyn insisted the rod heated but to a degree nobody else could feel any difference, where a ripple appeared in the water without a vortex, where the balloon shrunk by such a small amount that it was unclear whether it was simply leaking gas, where the golden spoon didn't bend to any visible degree, but would slide off a finger if it was previously balanced on it, where one wound dripped exactly once less than the other and where the distance effect was small enough that the instructors couldn't agree whether the ruler was placed on the line or on the side of the line during calibration.
'I've never seen anyone with less remarkable results in magic. If this is a reflection of your physical abilities as well, maybe you should just go home.' (Gwyn)
'Maybe she just doesn't grasp how the magic works yet, let's decide as planned in a week.' (Glenn)
'Maybe she's a death mage. It shouldn't be possible for anyone to have zero affinity to any of the other elements after all. Or this close to zero.' (Sophia)
'Have you ever wished that someone would die, followed by them actually dying some time later?' (Elaina)
'That's not something you should be asking someone of that age.' (Gwyn)
'It's not like you have any better ideas ~ let's just watch out for people dying around her ~' (Elaina)
'Are you... looking forward to it?' (Gwyn)
'Who knows ~' (Elaina)
Is she going to murder someone and pin it on me?
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'Dinner is served.' (Joshua)
'Still, that Alicia is pretty incredible. When I was gathering stuff in the forest earlier I saw her do something crazy.' (Dennis)
'What?' (Michael)
'As far as I can tell, she flung an icicle at a rabbit.' (Dennis)
'A what?' (Michael)
'It seems like she used the water in her water skin to create a sharp shard of ice, and then flung it with the wind into a rabbit. Turned it into a skewer on the spot. (Dennis)
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'Are you okay with hanging out with me?'
'What, because of the death magic rumour? You're not planning to kill me so the memory of your body dies with me right?' (Joshua)
'No, but -'
'If you're anything like Elaina and you're on our side, what kind of nutcase would want to change sides?' (Joshua)
'I don't think I'm a death mage though. It doesn't feel like I can use any magic at all.'
'Then get good with your weapon. You don't need magic to be a good Adventurer.' (Joshua)
'Easy for a master of the wind to say.'
'Look, I'm supposed to have good eyes, right? Not as good as Gwyn, sure, but better than most, right? I think you have a reason why you cannot fail like me, so it's pointless for you to talk about what holds you back when your only road is forward.' (Joshua)
'Aren't I allowed to complain a little?'
'Sure, but you're not allowed to give up.' (Joshua)
'Jerk.'
'That's the way you like it.' (Joshua)